Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has said the United States has given Ukraine and Russia a June deadline to reach an agreement to end the nearly four-year-long war, as Russia intensifies attacks on Ukraine’s energy infrastructure.
Speaking to reporters, Zelenskyy said Washington is pushing for a clear diplomatic timeline and is expected to apply pressure on both sides if progress is not made by early summer. According to him, the US wants a structured roadmap aimed at ending the conflict by June.
Zelenskyy confirmed that the United States has proposed holding the next round of trilateral talks involving Kyiv, Moscow, and Washington next week, potentially in Miami. Ukraine has already agreed to participate, he said.
Meanwhile, fighting on the ground continues to escalate. Zelenskyy said Russia launched hundreds of drones and dozens of missiles overnight, targeting Ukraine’s energy grid, power generation facilities, and distribution networks. The attacks forced nuclear power plants to reduce electricity output, worsening the country’s power deficit.
Ukraine’s state energy operator Ukrenergo said the strikes damaged high-voltage substations, leading to extended power outages across multiple regions. The attacks marked the second major assault on Ukraine’s energy infrastructure this year.
Diplomatic efforts have so far produced little progress. Zelenskyy said recent US-brokered talks failed to resolve major disagreements, particularly over eastern Ukraine’s Donbas region, which Russia continues to demand Kyiv withdraw from — a condition Ukraine firmly rejects.
He also expressed skepticism about proposals related to managing the Russian-controlled Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant and a US-suggested plan to turn parts of the Donbas into a free economic zone.
Zelenskyy added that the US has again proposed a ceasefire that would ban strikes on energy infrastructure. Ukraine is willing to comply if Russia does the same, but he noted that a similar pause agreed to previously was violated within days.
Despite mounting diplomatic pressure, Zelenskyy warned that without concrete commitments, Russia’s continued assaults on critical infrastructure risk deepening the humanitarian and energy crisis across Ukraine.
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